


Chatting in Death

by Chrysalin



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Grim Reapers, Superheroes, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23574610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrysalin/pseuds/Chrysalin
Summary: She died on a mission AGAIN and waits with her reaper while her team finishes up.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	Chatting in Death

“You’re early,” said the Grim Reaper, with a hint of surprise. 

The young woman who’d just appeared in the chair opposite him scoffed. “You know how it is, Paul,” she sighed, deciding to ignore the fact that she had apparently been slated to die on a mission yet again. That would be, what, her thirty-eighth time in just over a year? Had she been doing the hero thing for that long already? “We make plans, we do everything in our power to keep quiet, and before you know it, it all goes to shit.”

Anna shook her head. Superheroing was tough work on the best of days, but with powers as limited as hers, things never seemed to go according to plan. Her one ‘gift’, if you wanted to call it that, was to talk to the dead that lingered in any given place. It made her useful in trying to figure out what had happened while they investigated crimes, but meant she was limited to purely human level defense when things inevitably broke into a fight. 

Paul offered her the deck of cards lying nearby. “At least they still have you paired with someone who can bring you back, but they really ought to be more careful. You weren’t supposed to be here for another thirteen minutes.”

“The damn newbie stepped in an idiot trap a child could have spotted. Lights, alarms, the whole nine yards. We didn’t even make it to the kill spot so I could find out what was going on.”

The flashback came as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

_ Doctor Wonder, Spark, and Whisper (gods, she hated her code name) had been sent to determine who was killing off scads of fey things. Wonder and Whisper had been paired together almost since the beginning, since Wonder could bring her back if she was killed in action. No one had been able to figure why that particular spell of his only worked on her, but after experimenting for a while, the higher ups had more or less shrugged and gone with it. Spark was a new recruit with electrical powers, sent along both to learn some basic skills and because they weren’t sure if whoever they were hunting would be monitoring the scene. Whisper’s skills in combat meant she was capable of taking on basic human battle, but something that was killing mythological creatures would likely take more than that, and Doctor Wonder needed time to cast his spells. Spark at least was quick on her feet and could toss around her abilities with no lost time.  _

_ Spark was supposed to be taking the lead, to develop those skills she had said she wanted to learn in order to be a more effective hero. Wonder and Whisper were keeping an eye on her, of course, since she was brand new to the business, but they really weren’t expecting any trouble this early. Past experience said that they would get to their destination THEN run into an enemy, if there was one to be had. As such, they weren’t paying too much attention. _

_ Spark called out, “There’s something shiny lying halfway under that dumpster.” _

_ Whisper peered around her, saw the not even well-concealed wire leading from the object, and recognized the rigged semi-automatics in a fraction of a second and shouted out for her to stop, but it was already too late. Spark deflected the bullets from herself, and Wonder had flown up into the air when Whisper went stiff, leaving Whisper to take the brunt of the attack herself. Bullets tended to trump basic self-defense skills, and she was gone in seconds.  _

Paul snorted, having seen her death-memory with her. “Wow. That really was pathetic. How did the kid get bumped to field missions if she was that absurdly unprepared?”

Anna dealt a hand of five-card draw. “Dad’s big in our circles, claimed she was already trained. I knew she was still green, but if I’d known she was  _ that _ green I’d have taken the lead myself, teaching moment be damned. Next time I’m telling the higher ups where to shove it.”

“I’m sure that’ll go over well,” Paul said wryly. 

“Hey, they don’t want to do actual detective work and want me to hand them answers, they’ll have to take what they can get. They recruited me, not the other way around.”

He pushed two cards toward her and accepted the replacements. “You know there’s a betting pool now for how many times you’ll wind up here before it’s permanent? You can only cheat death so many times before it sticks, after all.”

“I talk to the dead for a living,” Anna pointed out. “I’m more than aware.”

“Hm.” He glanced at her hands, which were starting to turn to motes of golden light. “Wow, Wonder boy is actually getting to things fairly quickly for a change. Looks like our time’s up for today.”

Anna stood up and stretched, halfway enjoying how her arms were so much glitter in the half-light of the Between. “Any word on my next time of death yet?”

“You know there isn’t, and that I wouldn’t tell you if there was. No one-”

“No one is supposed to know when they’ll die, blah blah, I know. I just figured you’d get tired of me wasting your time so often and give me some sort of heads-up so I could maybe skip the next visit.”

Paul snorted out a laugh and stood as well, his hood sliding back as he did. To the inexperienced, it would have been an intense shock to see what appeared to be a perfectly ordinary human under the robe, but Anna was long since immune to the oddities she encountered in death. Paul looking like the sort of man you might see puzzling over paperwork in a cafe was nothing. 

He leaned in and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Be careful out there, love. We really have to stop meeting like this.”

She gave him a wry grin. “Aw, we both know you’d miss me if I suddenly became responsible and stayed away.”

“I would,” he agreed amiably. “Still.”

“I know. See you at home?”

“Of course.”


End file.
